2017/18 Projects

Please see below for details of the marketing projects we delivered between 1 November 2017 and 31 October 2018.

Back to school - August/September 2018

We ran a 'back to school' campaign with the Bristol Post during August and September, highlighting Bristol Shopping Quarter as the place to go for all your back to school shopping. A series of online articles, which were promoted on Facebook, turned the spotlight on uniforms, books, even health and there was a competition with five winners each being given £100 worth of vouchers (£25 each from M&S, WHSmith, Argos, and Clarks).

Taste Buds - August 2018

The Broadmead BID funded a 12-page pull-out in Bristol Post's Weekend magazine on Friday 17 August, putting the spotlight on places to eat and drink in Broadmead and The Galleries. Each cafe or restaurant had a quarter page, including a photo and description. The Bristol Post team were in Broadmead that day, giving away 1000 copies of the magazine to shoppers.

Made in Bristol TV - July/August 2018

Throughout July and August, the Broadmead BID is sponsoring Made in Bristol TV's evening news show with a tagline advertising Bristol Shopping Quarter. Additionally, the station have filmed interviews with the owners or staff at a number of shops in the Broadmead BID area. The clips have been featured on their shows and they have given us and the individual retailers the footage to use on our websites and social media channels. The feedback has been great with several retailers reporting increased interest in their businesses as a result of our films. View them all on the Bristol Shopping YouTube channel.

Unlock the Box competition - July/August 2018

The Broadmead BID team joined forces with Heart FM to run our biggest competition ever. A huge box, filled with over £5000 worth of prizes from retailers in Broadmead and The Galleries arrived outside M&S on Monday 30 July. Shoppers were encouraged to enter a competition to win the contents and could do so online (Heart FM website), by calling in to the Breakfast, Drivetime, and Weekend shows, or by text. 35 people won a code and were invited to Broadmead on Saturday 4 August to attempt to unlock the box - Mikee Tonkin was our lucky winner. The competition was also promoted via the Bristol Shopping Quarter website and social media channels, in the Bristol Post and online with Bristol 24/7.

Christmas group advertising - July 2018

As you know, it is never too early to plan for Christmas! To ensure that group tour operators know about Bristol's Christmas market, we are currently advertising in trade magazines. This is the time of year when the tour operators make their decisions about which cities to visit and we want Bristol to be top of their list.

Discover your buzz - July 2018

The Broadmead BID funded a four-page pull-out in Bristol Post's Weekend magazine on Friday 27 July, demonstrating there's more to do than shopping in Broadmead, The Galleries, and Cabot Circus. It features things to do, hairdressers, nail and beauty salons, and shops offering products for pampering at home. The Bristol Post team were in Broadmead that day, giving away 1000 copies of the magazine to shoppers. Read it HERE

Your Indie Shopping Guide - July 2018

We have updated our indie shopping guide, giving it a complete new look, in line with website and recent marketing campaigns. Launched online on 4th July (Independents Day), the paper version of Your Indie Shopping Guide, which features a map, alphabetical listing, and an index by category, will be distributed to all 100+ independent retailers in Broadmead, The Galleries, and Cabot Circus as well as to local hotels and the Tourist Information Centre; it can also be viewed online from the Bristol Shopping Quarter website and 1000 copies will be given away with the Bristol Post.

Hot air balloon flight competition - June 2018

Coinciding with Father's Day, our competition to win a hot air balloon flight for two began on 12th June and closed at midday on 19th June. Promoted via our newsletter and social media, it was the first competition using a new page developed for our website, allowing us to gather data for our mailing list in a GDPR compliant manner. There were 1066 entries, of which 544 people gave us permission to save their data and to send them our regular newsletters. 132 of those people were already subscribed but the remaining 412 are new subscribers, increasing our mailing list by 13%. Over the duration of the competition, traffic to our website was 25% higher than the same period in the previous year. The winner, selected by automated number generator (no. 544 of 1066 entries) was Alison Critchley.

BID funded hanging baskets - June 2018

Hanging baskets were installed on shopfronts around the BID area during the first week of June, 16 more than in previous years. They will be maintained, courtesy of the BID, and should last until the beginning of October. It’s good to be able to brighten up Bristol Shopping Quarter for all who work and shop here.

Bus side advertising - May/June 2018

The Broadmead BID has funded a bus side advertising campaign, running from 14 May 2018 for four weeks. The adverts, designed by The Group of Seven, mention the four areas of Bristol Shopping Quarter - Broadmead, The Galleries, Cabot Circus, and The Arcade - and include the Bristol Shopping Quarter and BID logos, our website address and social media icons/id. They appear on 44 buses on a variety of First Bus routes coming into the city centre. The main image is based on our advert in Visit Bristol's visitor guide and is also being used as the cover photo for our Facebook and Twitter pages, providing a consistent 'look'.

Heart FM sponsorship - May to August 2018

Responding to feedback from BID levy payers, who have asked us to keep Bristol Shopping Quarter in the limelight outside our key marketing campaign periods (Easter, summer and Christmas), the Broadmead BID team is sponsoring the Heart FM Breakfast show for four months. We have created two 'taglines', which will be played between 6 and 9am each morning. We are delighted to be able to promote Bristol Shopping Quarter on this show, allowing us to raise the profile of the area and compete with The Mall at Cribbs who sponsor the traffic.

Broadmead BID Retailer Awards - April 2018

Following a mystery shopping campaign, carried out during March by independent organisation Storecheckers, the Broadmead BID team were delighted to host the third annual Broadmead BID Retailer Awards at The New Room/John Wesley's Chapel on Tuesday 24th April. Bristol Lord Mayor Cllr Lesley Alexander presented trophies and certificates to the top performers across a range of categories, including The Bridal Boutique (owner/designer Charlotte Smith is pictured with the Lord Mayor and Matt Taylor from Storecheckers) who won Best Wedding Retailer and Lush, who scored 100% for the third year running. Each participant will receive a very detailed report, highlighting strengths as well as any areas where improvement could be made in order to offer excellent customer service. For further information, including details of the finalists and winners in each category, click HERE.

The Band/Hotel du Vin/L'Osteria competition - April 2018

We teamed up with The Bristol Hippodrome, Hotel du Vin, and L'Osteria for a Facebook competition offering a pair of tickets to see The Band at The Bristol Hippodrome on Tuesday 17 April plus an overnight stay at the hotel and dinner for two at L'Osteria. It proved to be our most successful competition to date - we reached 85,281 people on Facebook alone plus several thousand more through our newsletter, Twitter and Instagram. Engagement was almost 12% and there were 1,467 entries. The competition increased our Facebook likes, brought us new e-newsletter subscribers, and drove traffic to our website. The winner, chosen by automated number generator, was Samantha Nicholas.

Gateway feature cleaned - April 2018

The Broadmead BID has paid for STP, a local specialist cleaning company, to give the Gateway feature next to Primark a thorough clean. This is part of the BID team's work to deliver an enhanced level of cleansing and maintenance.

Easter flamingo trail - March/April 2018

For the seventh year running young visitors to Broadmead were invited to take part in a trail over Easter. The theme for this year’s trail was ‘Love and Tolerance’. 52 flamingos, decorated by children from local primary schools and groups, were displayed in shops around Broadmead, The Arcade, The Galleries, and Cabot Circus for young visitors to find from Saturday 24 March until Saturday 7 April, after which they were all be on display in The New Room until 17 April. Maps showing their locations were given to the participating schools and were also available from The New Room/John Wesley Chapel (opposite Boots), from Specsavers on Merchant Street, from the information desk at Cabot Circus, from Barber Brown on Bond Street, and online. There were 10,000 printed maps in total. All children completing the flamingo trail and making a note of each zebra's name were able to collect a chocolate reward from The New Room/John Wesley Chapel. Free activity sessions ran at The New Room on two Wednesdays. Over 1,000 people visited the New Room in connection with the trail, including author Michael Morpurgo! A comprehensive multi-media advertising campaign featured adverts in the Bristol Post and Weekend magazine, an advertorial in Bristol 24/7 (print, online, & e-news), and sponsorship of Heart FM's drivetime show, all backed up with comprehensive social media coverage. There was also a competition on the Bristol Post's Facebook page and website, which achieved great engagement and over 3,000 new (GDPR compliant) subscribers for our e-newsletter.

Broadmead blue balls repainted - March 2018

The blue balls located outside Marks and Spencer have been repainted and the Gateway Feature structure, next to Primark, is currently receiving a thorough clean. The BID team addresses all maintenance issues quickly but do let us know if you see anything that requires attention.
Mark Parsons, your Broadmead BID Cleansing Manager, is happy to assist with cleansing issues. Please either contact Mark direct or the BID team and we will respond quickly.

Static signage and maps - March 2018

In order to help customers to find their favourite stores, we have recently updated the signage in Broadmead (outside Starbucks, Virgin Media, Sally and Tesco). Additionally, our A3 tear-off maps have been re-printed. They are distributed to all local hotels and to the Tourist Information Centre so that visitors know where we are. Please let us know if you'd like some for your store. They can also be downloaded HERE.

Free retailer training course - February 2018

The BID was very happy to fund a free retailer training course for BID businesses on Tuesday 27 February 2018. The course was delivered by Steve Bluff, who used to be General Manager of House of Fraser in Bristol and covered a whole host of useful information including: visual merchandising, customer service, stock rotation, profit and loss management, loss prevention, and key performance indicators.

Valentine's Day competition - January 2018

The BID team will continue to run regular competitions on the Bristol Shopping page on Facebook throughout 2018. The purpose is to raise awareness of Bristol Shopping Quarter while promoting the individual retailers who have supplied prizes and to increase our Facebook likes (ensuring more people see our other posts) and newsletter subscriptions. The Valentine's Day competition prize included a variety of gifts and vouchers donated by Thorntons, Parsons, London Camera Exchange, Pret, St Peter's Hospice Shop, Slater Menswear, Odeon, Consol, New Room Cafe, Specsavers, Tesco Metro, Cococheno, Marks & Spencer, Lush and No.1 Currency . The Facebook post reached 9,516 people (1,511 organically, 8,005 through paid for boosting) and achieved an incredible engagement rate of 40%. It was also promoted on the Bristol Shopping Quarter website and through Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Almost 1,000 people entered and the winner was Deborah Jenkins Lewis, pictured here at Tesco Metro with manager Chris Pitchell.

Bristol Visitor Guide - January 2018

Once again this year, the BID has funded a full page advert for Bristol Shopping Quarter in the official 2018 Bristol Visitor Guide, which highlights the best of Bristol and the surrounding region. 370,000 copies of this booklet have been produced and it is available at Tourist Information Centres across the region and country. It can also be found in leaflet stands, at major transport hubs, and in the reception and rooms of most major hotels in the city.

16 Days of Christmas competition - December 2017

Thanks to the generosity of Everything Hair, Snappy Snaps, Slaters, Primark, Julian Charles, Parsons Jewellers, Wilko, Specsavers, M&S, Barber Brown, Antics, Lush, Bakers Dolphin, the author & illustrator of Angus Management, Xmas Markets Ltd and Bristol Local Christmas Market we were able to offer a fantastic prize comprising a total of 16 gifts for this competition. The Facebook post reached 34,152 people and 72% of that reach was organic, higher than the equivalent competition in 2016. Engagement was really high – almost 17%. Facebook likes rose from 8309 to 8659 since the competition started on 5 December, a 4% increase. We also gained 175 newsletter subscribers. The winner was Rachel Winchester, who said "Thank you so much you have no idea how much this is going to make me and my family happy this Christmas!"

Cop Shop competition - December 2017

We supported Avon & Somerset Constabulary by donating a £50 Debenhams voucher as part of the main prize for a draw that could be entered by visitors to their pop-up Cop Shop, which was open in The Galleries from 27 November until 23 December. The aim of the Cop shop was to provide shoppers with an easy point of contact with officers, who gave out crime prevention advice, and a higher-visibility police presence during the busy Christmas period. It attracted record numbers of visitors this year.

Pantomime/Bristol Marriott City Centre Hotel competition

We teamed up with Bristol Hippodrome and Bristol Marriott City Centre Hotel for a Facebook competition offering two family tickets to see Aladdin at The Bristol Hippodrome on Tuesday 2 January plus an overnight stay at the hotel for the first prize winner. It reached 52,395 people and achieved more than 13% engagement. 73% of that reach was organic (compared to 37% for a similar competition last year and 7% in 2015). The winner was Sarah Lane Jacobs and the runner up Joanne Phillips. From the start to the end of the competition our Facebook likes increased by 5.5% to 8278 and our newsletter subscriptions by 4.6% to 5839. Our promotion for this competition included an interview with Marti Pellow, which was posted on the Bristol Shopping Quarter website.

In addition to advertising earlier this summer to encourage more group visits this Christmas, our Christmas marketing campaign includes radio and online advertising with Heart FM, The Breeze, and Ujima Radio, each chosen to target a different demographic. We have placed printed adverts in Bristol Post and Weekend magazine; advertorials in Weekend magazine, Bath's Weekend magazine, Bristol Life, and Bath Life; and an online advertorial on the Bristol 24/7 website. Bristol's Christmas Market has also featured in The Guardian's Christmas Shopping supplement. As always we are listed on ChristmasMarkets.com. We are also promoting all our Christmas activities via bristolshoppingquarter.co.uk and via @bristolshopping on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Additionally, Visit Bristol's popular Christmas leaflet, detailing all of Bristol's major events, has been repeated this Christmas, with our advert on the back page. The campaign includes a variety of competitions, designed to boost our social media profiles and increase subscriptions for our monthly newsletter.

transformation from number 30 to number 12 in the premier league of retail centres. He has ensured that every aspect of Broadmead has been reviewed, evaluated and improved. A hallmark of his approach has been brokering partnerships with retailers, property owners and the civic authorities. He has been a pioneer in designing transformative BIDs.